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Best Mattress for Side Sleepers

Night after night, many people find themselves turning to their side for a restful night’s sleep, so what makes the best mattress for side sleepers? Firmness, support, and pelvic rotation are all key factors to consider when selecting your next new mattress. Unlike back sleepers, side sleepers are less likely to struggle with snoring or airflow issues, but they can suffer from hip, back, or neck pain.

What Is the Best Mattress for Side Sleepers?

The best mattress for a side sleeper is one that aligns your spine and relieves pressure points on your hips and shoulders. Here are some recommendations from me to help get you started.

Nine Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers

Shoulder/Hip Pain

Layla Mattress

Layla Mattress

A flippable design makes the Layla mattress a truly customizable bedroom accessory. Get $110 off your purchase using code SLEEPOPOLIS.

Best Mattress for Side Sleepers With Shoulder Pain or Hip Pain

Layla Mattress

Leesa Mattress

Ghost Bed

Layla Mattress

I like the Layla mattress for side sleepers with shoulder and hip pain because it is flippable: It has two sides that could work for side sleepers. There is no magic formula to fix shoulder and hip pain, after all; it really depends on you and your preferences (which can shift over time)! Thus, having a mattress where you can have two options to adjust to your preferences can be a great solution for side sleepers with hip or shoulder pain. Learn more about this mattress in my Layla mattress review.

Two other options that may be good for shoulder or hip pain are the Leesa and GhostBed.

Save $110 on your order!

Layla Mattress

Layla Mattress

A flippable design makes the Layla mattress a truly customizable bedroom accessory. Get $110 off your purchase using code SLEEPOPOLIS.

Best Luxury Mattress for Side Sleeping

Showing the zoned construction of the Casper Wave mattress

The Casper Wave is a higher-end mattress that has zoning technology specifically for side sleepers. The mattress is designed to actually provide different construction at the shoulders and hips so that your spine is better aligned when sleeping on your side.

Best Mattress for Side Sleeping Pressure Relief

Amazing pressure relief on my side (and all positions) when laying on the Purple mattress

The Purple mattress has a unique gel comfort layer construction that results in some of the best pressure relief we have tested at Sleepopolis, particularly when lying on your side. Though you may have thought the “raw egg test” was just a marketing ploy, it actually does demonstrate the fact that the Purple mattress really does stand apart in terms of pressure relief.

The Purple mattress does a great job of relieving pressure but also providing a feeling of support. The gel layer that Purple uses is unlike anything else I’ve tested on the market. Though it can take a little getting used to, I think it’s amazingly comfortable.

Best Innerspring Mattress for Side Sleeping

WinkBeds queen size mattress

I like the WinkBeds mattress for side sleeping because it has a bit of extra foam on top compared to most innerspring mattresses on the market.

While it still has that traditional innerspring feel that many people love, the extra foam provides just enough extra pressure relief on the hips and shoulders to make a noticeable difference for side sleepers.

WinkBeds also offers a soft option, which some side sleepers may prefer, as well as an option for heavy sleepers. Learn more in my full WinkBeds mattress review.

Best Memory Foam Mattress for Side Sleeping

Pressing into the Amerisleep AS4 mattress

Amerisleep has a few memory foam mattresses in their line that are good options for side sleeping. They range from AS1 to AS5, with AS3, AS4, and AS5 being on the softer side and good options for side sleeping (in my opinion). These mattresses are high-quality memory foam, offering that classic contouring and supportive feel that many side sleepers adore. Learn more about the whole Amerisleep line on my Amerisleep mattress reviews page.

Best Mattress for Side Sleepers With Back Pain

Showing the contouring of the Alexander Hybrid from Nest Bedding

Though many mattresses can help with back pain when side-sleeping, the first that came to mind was the Alexander Hybrid from Nest Bedding. Two other great mattress options that come to mind for back pain are the Brooklyn Bedding signature mattress and the Casper mattress.

The Alexander Hybrid offers a great comfort and support trade-off that makes it easy to adjust your sleeping position slightly to align the spine and deal with pressure points on your body. Learn more in my Nest Bedding Alexander Hybrid review.

Save 8%

Nest Bedding Alexander Hybrid Mattress

Nest Bedding Alexander Hybrid Mattress

The combination of plush foam and a pressure-relieving coil system makes this mattress particularly great for side sleepers! Save 8% on your Nest purchase with the code SLEEPOP8!

Best Custom-Made-for-You Mattress for Side Sleeping

Queen size custom made Helix mattress

Helix Sleep offers a great solution for side sleepers because they actually create the mattress to your preferences and specifications. When done right, this process will get you aligned, supported, and comfortable in a great position, a side sleeper’s dream!

The process requires that you complete a quiz about your body characteristics and preferences and allows couples to complete a quiz so that each side of the bed can cater to each sleeper.

Best Mattress for Side-Sleeping Couples

Queen size Nolah mattress

Nolah uses their proprietary AirFoam in the comfort layer of the mattress to provide a soft feel that really lets you sink in for pressure relief. This layer gives the Nolah the contouring you may expect from a memory foam, with a bit of a feeling of sinking into bed. I should also mention that like memory foam, AirFoam does a good job of isolating motion transfer, which is a huge plus for couples.

While the Nolah AirFoam has some of the positives that people like in memory foam, it also does a good job of avoiding the tendency to trap heat that memory foam has been known for. This ability to dissipate heat creates a cool sleeping environment.

Best Mattress Firmness for Side Sleepers

Side sleepers will want to look for something soft to moderate on the firmness scale. A soft mattress (with great support) will help to relieve pressure from your neck and back. A soft or medium firmness mattress will allow your body to sink into the mattress a bit more, which will let the mattress contour to your shape. Look for a mattress in the 3-6 out of 10 firmness range.

Firmness is perhaps the most important attribute for side sleepers. This is due to the very nature of the position. In order to provide proper support, the mattress must be able to contour to the curves of your body (yes, men, even you have curves on your side).

Side sleepers typically need a soft to medium firmness. Look for a mattress in the 3-6 out of 10 firmness range.

Support

A mattress with great support will relieve pressure points and keep your spine, neck, and back in alignment. For side sleepers, this is especially important, since your spine may be misaligned already. It’s important to note that support is not the same thing as firmness: A softer mattress can still provide great support. When looking for a new mattress that will meet your side sleeper needs, you’ll want to look for one that contours to your body’s shape. Foam mattresses offer many advantages for side sleepers, but well-built and well-designed innerspring mattresses can be effective also.

Note how the foam layers contour to the curves of the body, providing support, comfort, and spinal alignment.

The actual positions of side sleepers can differ drastically. Some of the most popular ones include forms like:

The log: Legs fully extended

The sprinter: One leg straight, one leg bent

The fetal: Both legs curled at the knee

Due to the nightly variation of a side sleeper’s position, support is key to ensure that your mattress is properly contouring to your body throughout the night.

Pelvic Rotation

Pelvic rotation is the result of misalignment of the back muscles and lumbar spine. It is caused when sleepers twist or curl their legs up in opposition to the position of the upper body. Take, for example, “the sprinter.” This person sleeps with one leg fairly straight and the other bent, which tends to rotate their upper body into a stomach-sleeping position while the lower body remains on the side. This type of rotation can lead to or worsen any lower back and neck pain, so it’s important to take preventative measures before it starts hurting.

There aren’t any perfect solutions to preventing pelvic rotation, but there are a few things you can do to help.

Try to train yourself to sleep in side sleeping positions that keep your spine in alignment.

Use a pillow between your legs to maintain spinal alignment (see below).

Buy a good mattress with proper support and softness. That will help to prevent pressure points that might be currently causing you to sleep in positions that cause more pelvic rotation.

Side Sleeper Pillow Needs

Good pillows are just as important as a good mattress. You may have an exceptionally well-made and comfortable mattress, but without a good pillow, you may still find that your sleeping experience is less than ideal. A quality pillow is critically important for side sleepers due to the increased (and somewhat more complex) support needs. Pillows made from latex, shredded foam, memory foam, or other poly foam help provide consistent and stable support by responding to the varying pressures of your head and neck. You’ll want to look for a pillow that is tall enough to cradle your head and neck but not so tall that you introduce a new form of pressure.

Additionally, many side sleepers use pillows between their legs. This can help to resist pelvic rotation while also relieving lower back pressure.

The advent of foam pillows in the 1990s was nothing short of a miracle for side sleepers. Foam pillows are able to provide great support and softness and properly cradle a side sleeper’s head and neck. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out my full list of pillow reviews. My personal favorite is the fully adjustable Nest Bedding Easy Breather pillow.

The Nolah mattress uses their proprietary AirFoam to provide a memory foam like contour and pressure relief, without the heat trapping and stuck feeling that memory foam is sometimes known for. It's a softer mattress that is designed with side sleepers in mind.

Be sure to try a wide range of firmnesses when shopping for the best mattress for you. Depending on your size, weight, and body type, you may find different firmness levels affect your body differently. When trying out a new mattress, it helps to lie on it exactly as you would sleep. Try to give it at least 10 minutes. Softer mattresses for side sleepers contour and react to your body very quickly, as soon as you lie down, so it may feel different after only 5 minutes.

Logan is the content director of Sleepopolis, which means he not only reviews new mattresses every week, but also curates all the comparisons, best of pages, and video guides on the site. He takes a straightforward, honest approach to his reviews and endeavors to give viewers an objective look at each new product he tries out. Logan’s perfected his method over the course of personally testing over 100 different mattresses, so he’s not only able to discern the overall vibe of a specific bed, but to contextualize its feel within the bed-in-a-box market as a whole. Needless to say, his sleep knowledge runs deep, and he loves nothing more than sharing that knowledge with his readers. When he’s not hopping on a new bed or working with our editorial team to whip up an engaging sleep education guide, you can find him reading books on world history, walking his dog Pepper, or searching for the best cheeseburger in New York City.

I am going to get a pillow because I am a side sleeper, now I found that I might need a mattress as well, I am a little low in budget so I don’t want to spend a lot of money, do you think its worth to replace mattress for the best experience?

Love your defining mattresses so explicitly and eloquently – and mostly so honestly. Sleepopolis -great job. I know understand what my PT meant when he said my elderly bones needed a Medium Firm mattress – and coils would be important for a side sleeper with back pain!!!There’s nothing like education- – and then winning what one needs!!!

I feel so lucky having the opportunity to try to win a free mattress!! Sounds like a dream come true! I’m a housekeeper of 40 year’s! I’d be great advertisement! Anything in their home they ask me! When I win your great purple mattress! I well tell everyone of them! It would be a dream come true! I can only imagine how great your mattress will feel!!! It looks like the best mattress in the world! So many options! I’m a side sleeper I would feel so blessed to win a Layla I believe that is the right one! Thank you! I look soooo forward to a great night sleep on a purple mattress!! I look forward to hearing from you! Big smile

Hi! I have spent hours watching and reading all your reviews. Thank you so much for what you do! I am looking for an all natural, organic mattress. I was looking at the Avocado but now and thinking it might be too firm. I am a side-sleeper and quite a bit overweight. I purchased a gel, memory foam topper (4 in.) for my bed awhile back. It had amazing reviews on Amazon but when I used it, I had significant back pain. Do you have a mattress you would recommend? At this point, I was looking at Avocado, Botanical Bliss and Zenhaven. Again, thank you so much!

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